Basd Students Earn Credit For Volunteering

Patti Marshall takes the plastic bag of "Joe Donor's" blood from a nurse, seals it, logs the donation on the computer and sends it to the lab for testing.

It is hours before Christmas Eve. Schools are closed for the holiday. Marshall, 15, a student at Liberty High School, has the day off from school.

But the work she's doing will earn her high school credit -- credit she needs to graduate. Marshall, like every other high school student in Bethlehem Area School District (beginning with the graduating class of 1994), is required to perform 60 hours of community service to graduate.

She is doing her tour of duty at the Samuel W. Miller Memorial Blood Center.

In the Bethlehem Area School District, it's up to students when and where they serve, but it must be off of school time and at a not-for-profit place. Students have more than 100 volunteer agencies to choose from, or they can design their own project for approval. Some help in hospitals, some in animal shelters. Some tutor elementary children or assist at homeless shelters.

"We only require you to do something," said Phyllis Walsh, the district's community service coordinator.

School district officials mandated community service 2-1/2 years ago, despite complaints from some parents that the program infringes on parental rights, unfairly provides free labor and pushes a set of values on students.

Two sets of parents are suing the district, saying mandatory volunteer service is not only unconstitutional but illogical. A federal judge sided with the district in April, but an appeal is pending.

School district officials say the program doesn't force values on students. They say it's exposing students to one more educational experience.

"We just saw it as what it is," said Superintendent Thomas Doluisio. "Is it teaching a value? I'm sure it is."

Doluisio said the district began to look at community service because of what's happening in society. It's the generation of "self-gratification," Doluisio said.

Doluisio and Walsh said students are learning to be responsible and punctual. They could learn about a career they are thinking of pursuing, such as nursing. They're learning how to make choices.

But perhaps most importantly, they're learning that "they owe something to their communities and have to give to their communities," Doluisio said.

Of eight students interviewed at random while on their community service jobs, three said they favored the school's mandate. Three opposed it, and two were undecided.

"I think community service is a good idea," said Marshall, whose older siblings volunteered at the blood center before it was a graduation requirement. "It gives you a sense like you're doing something good for people. But I don't think it should be forced."

Shawn Martinez, a ninth-grader at Freedom High School, said it's good for the district to require service. He passes out water to patients, hands out mail and offers other volunteer assistance at St. Luke's Hospital.

"I think it gives kids a chance to see what the world has to offer them," Martinez said.

Bethlehem school officials said they considered voluntary service, instead of a mandate. But they researched and found that only 10 or 15 percent of students participate in voluntary programs.

In some districts, it's even less.

At Nazareth High School, only about 4 percent of the student body -- 30 of 750 -- is participating in the school's voluntary community service program. Students must volunteer for 60 hours to get credit on their high school transcripts, said Principal Vic Lesky.

"We have a lot of other kids involved in community service, but they aren't putting in the necessary time" to get credit, he said.

Parkland High School has even fewer students involved in its voluntary program.

The Parkland School Board approved a voluntary community service program in November 1990, and it was supposed to start that January, but it has attracted little attention, said Ed Erdman, director of curriculum services. Less than a half dozen students enter the program each year and get credit on their high school transcripts for service.